Thursday evening found me and O in fashionable Islington - although the shopping centre there is alarmingly pikey. We were at the Academy Bar to see Owen's latest singer/songwriter gurly Sandi Thom. She has been getting a lot of press lately due to her unconventional launch into popdom.

Stuck with a brokedown car and a need to tour she came up with the smart idea at the start of the year to invest in a £60 webcam and do the tour from her Tooting basement, broadcasting live via her website. In only two weeks she was performing one night in front of 162,000 people!!! Not too long after that she was signed - live on her webcam - by BMG.

O discovered her through a Google search where she namechecked Buffy Saint-Marie as an influence and he has been top-thumping her for a few months. She certainly has an enthusiastic following who gave her a huge ovation. As usual with me despite being 4 deep from the tiny stage, my view was somehow blocked by a bloke with an alarmingly wide head and neck in between a tall woman and a tall baldy photographer at the front FFS! I swear to God... I could go to a gig with 3 other people and somehow they would still stand directly in front of me. Luckily tall baldy photographer moved to the other side of the stage after a while affording me a proper view. Her music certainly is traditional singer/songwriter fare but she performs them winningly and it's certainly good to hear such a stripped-down sound as it was her, another guitarist and a drummer - playing a packing crate (and damn well too). There was supposed to be a song sung while she played keyboards but she couldn't get it to work - despite the help of an audience member who poked about at it while she sang. I wonder if the sound will be fleshed out on the album SMILE... IT CONFUSES PEOPLE due for release at the start of June, The Independant today compared her to, among others, Kirsty MacColl. Let's not be silly now.

To break up the run on unknown songs she threw in a very good cover of Stevie Wonder's LIVING FOR THE CITY and an excellent version of fellow internet hotshot Gnarls Barkley's CRAZY. She also shyly pointed out that she had knocked Gnarls Barklay off iTunes #1 downloaded song spot with her upcoming single I WISH I WAS A PUNK ROCKER. I must admit were it not for the Stomp-like accompaniment and her nice vocal I would find the song a bit twee but I hope it does well when released next week. She is very Scottish! It threw me a bit when I realised during one of her introductions that she sounded like Rhona Cameron. Only better looking and with BIG Bobbie Gentry hair.

We spotted 2 other people hanging around the dressing room door next to the stage after the set so did the always unconvincing "I'm just waiting here, I'm not waiting on an autograph" hover but she came out soon enough and she signed our tickets and she posed for a photo with O too. All in all, an enjoyable night.